User talk:Mother Christmas

Boii

Hey there, I just saw your question on the Boii:Discussion page about why Boii in the 9th century were non-sense. The question was posted quite some time ago, but I thought you might like to have a possible answer:

Generally speaking, most tribal entities tend to be rather short-lived (although they usually claim a common ancestry, they are more directly formed or undone by regional or political-economic factors). Most tribes exist for no longer than a few centuries before they are assimilated by another entity or start to define themselves by regional rather than ethnical standards. The Boii are attested as a dynamic tribal entity for the 3rd-1st centuries BC, even though certain populations might have considered themselves as Boii for two or three generations to follow. Generally, when a tribe's political capacities are removed (i.e. when a tribe is severely defeated and the name loses its "charisma"; when it is dominated by another tribe for a long time and its elites prefer to identify themselves with the dominant group; when tribal structures become supplanted by administrative structures; etc.), its name begins to lose its integrative capacity; in other words, the traditional tribal connection starts to disintegrate, and other affiliations take over. The traditional name is then usually abandonned, although it may persevere in place names. So once the Boii had become a part of the Roman Empire, they probably lost their tribal identity within few generations and seized to "be" Boii. Outside the Empire, any supposed remnants of the Boii were absorbed by Germanic peoples, whose tribal traditions were more "vital" than those of any scattered group too small to retain its own elite and traditions.

I hope this answers your question. :-) Take care and be nice to those kids, Trigaranus 19:53, 18 September 2007 (UTC)